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Scroll origins
Unidentified scrolls can have any one of many labels. In Hack 1.0, these labels are initially paired with the scroll types in a way that seems to be meaningful.Hack 1.0 def.objects.h, line 175 -- list of Hack 1.0 scrolls and their initial labels. It is often claimed that Hack 1.0 uses a fixed label for each scroll type, but in fact it does shuffle the labels.Hack 1.0 hack.o_init.c, line 60 -- this section of code executes once per object type, and shuffles the descriptions of all object types that have descriptions except tools. The various labels, and their meanings, are: ; ANDOVA BEGARIN : Unknown meaning. In Hack, this scroll was originally always the scroll of fire. Possibly "End Of A Beginning" ; DAIYEN FOOELS : "Dying fools". Originally scroll of enchant weapon. ; DUAM XNAHT : "Thanx Maud" spelled backwards. Originally scroll of amnesia. ; ELAM EBOW : Unknown meaning. Originally scroll of magic mapping. When looked at backwards, it sounds close to "woe be male"; this could be a reference to men not liking to ask for directions. If said aloud, it sounds like "LMBO", an initialism for "laughing my butt off". ; ELBIB YLOH : "Holy Bible" spelled backwards. Originally scroll of genocide. ; FOOBIE BLETCH : Unknown meaning. Possibly Jargon 'foo', ('bar'?), 'bletch'. In Hack 1.0, this is initially a spare label. ; GARVEN DEH : Unknown meaning. In Hack 1.0, this is initially a spare label. ; HACKEM MUCHE : "Hack 'em much". Originally scroll of damage weapon; the scroll of charging now occupies this slot. ; JUYED AWK YACC : Tenuous reference to Unix tools ed(1), awk(1), yacc(1). Originally scroll of destroy armor. ; KERNOD WEL : "Kenned well" in Scots. Originally scroll of identify. ; KIRJE : Finnish for "a letter" (as in a letter sent by mail). The scroll of mail was added in Hack 1.0.2, and the choice of initial label suggests that the labels are indeed meaningful. ; LEP GEX VEN ZEA : Possible reference to Lake Geneva (Wisconsin), hometown of D&D creator Gary Gygax. Originally scroll of create monster. ; NR 9 : Possible reference to The Beatles' confusing Revolution No. 9. Originally scroll of confuse monster. ; PRATYAVAYAH : "Reverse annoyance" in Sanskrit. Originally scroll of remove curse. ; PRIRUTSENIE : "Taming" in Russian (slightly misspelled or mistranscribed but still easily identifiable by Russian players, PRIRUCHENIE would be more correct). Originally scroll of taming. ; READ ME : "Read me". Originally scroll of blank paper. Reference to Alice in Wonderland. ; TEMOV : Unknown meaning. Possibly "Vomit" backwards and misspelled. In Hack 1.0, this is initially a spare label. ; THARR : "There's gold in them tharr hills!". Originally scroll of gold detection. ; VE FORBRYDERNE : "Beware, criminals!" in Danish. Originally scroll of punishment. ; VELOX NEB : Probably a reference to an old game, Starflight. In that game there was an alien race called the Velox, and in the game there were lots of nebulas. Also, velox is Latin for "fast". In Hack 1.0, this is initially a spare label. ; VENZAR BORGAVVE : Unknown meaning. Originally scroll of teleportation. ; VERR YED HORRE : Unknown meaning. Originally scroll of light. ; XIXAXA XOXAXA XUXAXA : Spanish (archaic spelling) for "mwahahahaha", a stereotypical evil laugh. Originally scroll of scare monster. ; YUM YUM : "Yum yum!" Originally scroll of food detection. ; ZELGO MER : Unknown meaning. Originally scroll of enchant armor. Not all of these are used each game. References Further reading *objects.c *Annotated NetHack File *